As much as I have enjoyed playing the various incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons over the years, it isn’t the only game out there. Thus I have made it a gamer goal to play at least two non D&D games during the year and try to make one of them something new. I’ve got a shelf full of them and a number of PDFs to explore.

Deadlands (Savage Worlds)
New to my Table (2022)

Ride with your posse into the Weird West of Mad Science, Restless Spirits, and Unspeakable Horrors.

Six guns & Undead horrors – two great tastes in one great setting

Blades in the Dark
New to the Table (2022)

A world of shadows and skullduggery, where the PCs are the bad guys

There have been many narrative driven RPGs and this one has a mighty impressive reputation as one of the more original ones out there. I managed to convince the table to give it a run in 2022. I am a sucker for shows about heists and this game is all about the making a score. In addition to PC having a playbook, the PC’s crew as a whole have a playbook and earn experience as well. I’m looking forward to a few more pick up games of this.

Avatar – Legends (Powered by the Apocalypse)
New to my Table (2022)

One of the many Powered by the Apocalypse games out there, this time set in one of the chronological ages of the Avatar settings, complete with lots of background information and rules for Bender duels. Lots more said about it here.

Earth, Air, Water, Fire – Master yourself and master the elements

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) (2022 and earlier)

The classic RPG of investigation and Lovecraftian Horror

Madness is the least of your worries …

Call of Cthulhu is among the first RPGs that I ever played and I keep coming back to it. I returned to it again just before the Plague of 2019 with Horror on the Orient Express, an extensive multi-part epic across Europe. More recently (2021), I ran the one-shot Blackwater Creek and a friend ran The Isley Variant for us in 2022. There’s a free quick start available in various places on the internet and for the most part the seven editions are largely compatible with very little effort.

Root (RPG) (Powered by the Apocalypse)
New to the Table (2021)

Set in the faction driven world of the board game of the same name.

Cute woodland creatures in a land of rival factions, intrigue, and adventure!

I managed to get this to the table in 2021 and it was the first Powered by the Apocalypse game that I had ever played much less attempted to run. It was an interesting experience for my table, having a very different narrative driven mechanic than the D20 games we were used to. We also managed to play an entire adventure from a free quick start. I look forward to playing this more and seeing how the faction elements play out.